It Wasn’t The Wife That Made Him Look Stupid

At my restaurant, many of our orders are takeout orders placed by phone. Since we’re one of many in the area, a common mistake customers can make is confusing locations and placing their order at another location instead of ours. If that happens, we’re usually able to identify the misunderstanding and send them on their merry way to the sister location that actually has their order waiting for them.

We’re in the middle of a dinner rush when a regular known to be grumpy and rude comes in.

Regular: “Order under [Name #1].”

Our cashier checks but finds no order under that name. She proceeds onto the standard troubleshooting:

Cashier: “Is there another name it could be under? Do you know what’s on the order?”

Regular: *Already agitated* “I don’t know! My wife called it in. Try [Name #2].”

No dice, which at this point most likely means they have mistakenly placed their order at another location.

Cashier: “Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be an order under those names. Do you know which phone number your wife called? It might’ve been [Location #1] or—”

Regular: “No, I know she called here! I’m sure of it! We only come here! Are you telling me that you don’t have our order? That’s just ridiculous!”

He starts berating the cashier for our supposed incompetency, necessitating an intervention. Finally, we convince him to phone his wife for confirmation, which he does while still angrily muttering about us losing his order.

Regular: *On the phone* “I’m here at [Restaurant] and these girls are telling me they don’t have our order!” *Pause* “What?” *Pause* “You didn’t order here? And you have it already?” *Pause* “Well, why didn’t you tell me earlier?! Now you’ve made me look stupid!”

He hung up and left without so much of an apology, of course.